Currently, the rise in use of VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) telephones has outpaced the ability of emergency telephone systems, such as 9-1-1, to handle these types of calls. First, because VoIP telephone calls do not originate from fixed physical locations in the same manner as landline telephone calls, it is difficult to ensure that the emergency call is sent to the appropriate local PSAP (Public Safety Access Point) responding to the location of the 9-1-1 call, such as the local police, local fire or local 9-1-1 emergency call center.
Secondly, once a call is handled by a PSAP the use of VoIP telephone has further complicated the ability to detect the location of a caller when an emergency call is placed.
For example, when a caller uses a VoIP telephone, the call is generally placed though the internet or other such packet switched network. Thus, when a dial string such as 9-1-1 is placed, the devices/routers handling the call do not have the capacity to properly determine the location of the caller to route the calls to a local PSAP through the internet. Although PSAP's may be able to handle incoming VoIP internet calls, the outgoing VoIP routers would not know which local PSAP to send them to, since the location of the VoIP caller is unknown.
Furthermore, in standard landline telephone calls made to 9-1-1 or other similar emergency telephone numbers, the 9-1-1 call center is able to trace the physical location of the caller through a standard call trace since the location of the line is fixed. This is particularly useful when a caller is not able to give their location either because they do not know their location or they are physically unable to verbalize their location. Also, with cellular callers, GPS (Global Positioning System), other location systems, or cell tower triangulation can be used to physically locate an emergency caller.
However, with VoIP telephones the call is connected to the destination telephone via the internet. This makes it difficult and/or impossible to easily trace the physical location of caller if they are unable to give the location on their own. This presents an added difficulty in directing emergency personal in the case of a 9-1-1 or other emergency call that is placed from a VoIP phone.